Mr. Andrew Bird, whose own show at the Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland is slowly creeping up on April 7,  gets to be the poster boy for Speed of the Pittsburgh Sound’s new, spiffier, more comprehensive concert calendar for April and May that has just been posted (and because I’m in a fairly euphoric mood after compiling all that concert data, I’ll post a couple tracks off Andrew Bird’s latest, Nobel Beast, down below).

It’s chalk full of small local acts, quality national tours, and massively huge arena shows that will no doubt cost an arm and leg to attend.  Some highlights include:  Andrew Bird (obviously), Kings of Leon with The Walkmen, TV on The Radio with The Dirty Projectors, and last but certainly not least, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  It’s not easy to prioritize such a healthy concert calendar and with a new job on the horizon, I don’t see myself getting to as many shows as I would like.

There are also a couple shows I clipped off because I refused to keep any March dates present on the page and they would be: Antlers w/ Olympus Mons and Casino Bulldogs this Friday at the Brillobox, Meeting of Important People’s CD release party on Saturday at the Brillobox, The Gaslight Anthem w/ Heartless Bastards and Good Old War at Mr. Small’s on Sunday, and Handsome Furs w/The Cinnamon Band at the Brillobox next Tuesday.   For Pittsburgh’s music scene it’s business as usual, kicking ass and taking names.  Let’s hope the summer months can keep the city bumping.

P.S. If we don’t have your band’s gig posted on the concert calendar, feel free to email us at bowmanpatrick@ymail.com and we will add it as soon as humanly possible.

Andrew Bird – Fitz and the Dizzyspells

Andrew Bird – Effigy

Their debut, 2007′s Plague Park, sounded effortless and thick, brimming to the edges with Boeckner’s romantic “fuck modernity” lyrics, acerbic sheet metal guitar, and Perry’s spacey, electro glitch keeping step. But at times, Plague Park appeared to have more than a little air in their songs after repeated listens.  Some wondered how much variation could be had with their current guitar/synth set up, or if they were destined to slowly turn toward Wolf Parade-lite.

If the first couple tracks off the new album, Face Control(coming out March 10, 2009), are any indicator, their sound appears to be, thankfully, busting at the seams.  Most noticeably, Perry has stepped her presence and then some.  Her synth lines are no longer the skeleton crew grooves of Plague Park but have now mutated into a dynamic, multi-layered wall of sound.  She now easily maintains a major presence in the album’s composition, as Boeckner’s Bob Seeger guitar and impassioned lyrics become equal placeholders to the Handsome Furs sound.  It’s a more than welcome evolution for those of us who appreciated the brevity of Plague Park but were left wondering about this duo’s second gear.

The Handsome Furs come to Pittsburgh on March 31 at 9:30 pm at The Brillobox in Lawrenceville.

Handsome Furs – I’m Confused

Handsome Furs – Talking Hotel Arbat Blues